Political allies and loyalists of former Jigawa State Governor Alhaji Sule Lamido have called on him to leave the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) because the party has lost focus and the ability to remain a vibrant political force.
The loyalists made their position known in a press statement issued after a meeting held under the banner of the “Former PDP Jigawa State Local Government Chairmen Forum. at the party secretariat, Dutse.”
Their call on Lamido to dump PDP came barely hours after one of the founding fathers, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, formally joined the African Democratic Congress.
The group stated that the party’s current crisis of confidence and internal conflicts appear to be compromising the core ideological principles upon which its founding fathers built it.
Furthermore, the group condemned the alleged maltreatment and disrespect shown to Sule Lamido when he visited the party’s Wadata Plaza national secretariat to purchase a nomination form for the national chairmanship position.
According to the forum, the party’s national leadership seems weak and unwilling to act in the genuine interest of the party and its members, maintaining that the national chapter is “a disgrace.”
They added that the “recent convention and show of shame” at Wadata Plaza was an embarrassment to everyone in the party.
“Sule Lamido is one of the few surviving founding fathers of the party. As his loyalists, we cannot continue to watch anyone disrespect him, nor can we bear the embarrassment brought upon the party by opportunists.
“Therefore, we are calling on our leader, Alhaji Sule Lamido, to dump the PDP for a better alternative party that can provide him and other well-meaning Nigerians a favourable platform to liberate Nigeria from its current poor leadership, and the prevailing security and socio-economic crises,” the statement revealed.